Prep basketball: Titans name Greg Anderson new boys coach

A concerned South Fort Myers coach Greg Anderson watches his team's final game of the season, a 61-39 loss to Astronaut in the Class 4A state semfinals in Lakeland on Thursday. Anderson guided the Wolfpack to a 26-4 record in his first season.

Nothing lasts forever, as Golden Gate athletic director Pete Seitz put it. After having having Joe Consolino as the boys basketball team's head coach since the program began in 2004, the Titans have a new beginning with the hiring of Greg Anderson.

"Coach Consolino had a good run," Seitz said. "I think we will continue to have that under Greg. ... He has a clear plan for the basketball program."

Anderson indicated Consolino, who announced his retirement at the age of 64 last month, has been part of shaping that plan.

"Coach Consolino has been making my job easy," Anderson said. "Everything is in place, right down to the little things you may not think about, like cameras and ball racks. He's still around helping with the team. He's been helping a lot with the transition."

Anderson plans to keep the wide-open offensive style of his predecessor as he tries to maintain the progress the team made last season. The Titans reached the regional semifinals following a three-year hiatus. Golden Gate finished 17-11 last season, and was beaten by rival Lely for the 5A-14 district title.

"He's been around. He's been in the state final four with the girls team," Seitz said. "And he is a quality person."

"Honestly, this is the best position I could be in both teaching and coaching," said Anderson, a graduate of Valparaiso in Indiana who has two daughters. "This is a fortunate situation."

Anderson, who has served as a teacher of advance placement classes at the school for the last three years, was the head coach of the freshman team during that time. Before that, he served as the head varsity coach for both the boys and girls teams at South Fort Myers. He also was an assistant coach at Gulf Coast

"Golden Gate is a great school to work at and a great school to coach at," Anderson said.

"We interviewed people from out of state and from the county, we weren't necessarily looking for someone from the inside," Seitz said. "He's been a teacher here for three years, and he has put his best foot forward in the classroom. That showed he was the right person."

Anderson hopes to carry over from Consolino the coach's ability to build a rapport with his players, and the overall professionalism of the program.